Tangerine Muffins

I should probably not allow myself to go into Costco as I have a tendency to buy things that look good to me and at Costco that means buying really large quantities of things that look good to me; like a 5 pound bag of Clementines. In terms of buying local and reducing food miles this is not a good thing but I really love citrus fruit and they looked so bright and perfect I couldn't resist. So I have been eating a lot of clementines this weekend and I decided to find a recipe to help use some of them up. Nigella had a recipe for a Clementine Cake but it involved boiling the fruit for two hours and that didn't seem like a lot of fun. Instead I found this recipe for Tangerine Muffins on Cook's Recipes and since Clementines are a variety of Mandarin orange or tangerine, I thought they would work nicely.

Tangerine Muffins

from Cook's Recipes (see link above)

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 large egg

1 tablespoon grated tangerine peel

1 cup diced tangerine
-----

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, melted margarine, egg, grated tangerine peel, and diced tangerines. Pour tangerine mixture into flour mixture and stir just until combined. Spoon the batter into a greased muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Bake in 400°F oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Results: This recipe mixes up quickly and easily and makes a great, moist muffin. I liked the little bits of juicy Clementine and the lovely scent from the zest. I took them to work where they proved to be very popular, because of their flavor and moistness. A definite keeper recipe and I would try it with different citrus and other fruit too.